June 2019 Book Highlights

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Here’s our round-up of fantastic and fantastical reading for June.

We take in Adult Fiction, fantastical and general, creative and socially minded Non-Fiction, Children’s and YA and Graphic Novels. Whether you’re a general or genre reader or a bookshop looking to make sure your customers aren’t missing out we try to balance an inclusion of the biggest titles with slipstream / crossover hits and those hidden gems for all concerned.
Selections are by Tim Bayley and are drawn from publisher submissions, The Bookseller magazine’s own monthly highlights, Buyer’s Guides and more.

NB. We believe in supporting bricks and mortar stores whether online or in person and a tiny snippet of any purchase comes our way to go towards site upkeep so any and all support very much appreciated! Hyperlinks lead on to Waterstone’s.

So relax and browse on and check out the great reads in print coming your way in June.

Enjoy!

Tim Bayley

Fantastic & Fantastical Fiction

Trier is famous for wine, Romans and for being Germany’s oldest city. So when a man is found dead with, his body impossibly covered in a fungal rot, the local authorities know they are out of their depth. Enter Investigator Tobias Winter who, with the help of frighteningly enthusiastic local cop, Vanessa Sommer, quickly links the first victim to a group of ordinary middle aged men – and to realise they may have accidentally reawakened a bloody conflict from a previous century. But the rot is still spreading, literally and with the suspect list extending to people born before Frederick the Great solving the case may mean unearthing the city’s secret magical history… MORE / BUY

There are worse threats in the woods than the things that stalk their prey at night. Sometimes, there are men. Men with dark desires, weak wills, and evil intents. Men in uniform with classified information, deadly secrets, and unforgiving orders. And sometimes, just sometimes, there’s something worse than all of the horrible people and vicious beasts combined. Red doesn’t like to think of herself as a killer, but she isn’t about to let herself get eaten up just because she is a woman alone in the woods… MORE / BUY

Tormenting red rains sweep the land, new monstrosities feed on fear in the darkness, and the power of the Nameless, the gods who protect the Republic, lies broken. Meanwhile the Deep Kings have only grown stronger, and are poised to deliver a blow that will finally end the war. Ryhalt Galharrow has been deeper into the wasteland known as the Misery than ever before. It has grown within him but all power comes with a price, and now the ghosts of his past, formerly confined to the Misery, walk with him everywhere. They will even follow him, and the few surviving Blackwing captains, on one final mission into the darkness. MORE / BUY

AD 2204. An alien shipwreck is discovered at the very limits of human expansion which could foreshadow humanity’s extinction. Back on Earth, we can make deserts bloom and extend lifespans indefinitely, so humanity seems invulnerable. We therefore welcomed the Olyix who needed fuel for their pilgrimage across the galaxy – and in exchange they helped us advance our technology. But were the Olyix a blessing or a curse? THE FAR FUTURE. Many lightyears from Earth, Dellian and his clan of genetically engineered soldiers are raised with one goal: confront and destroy their ancient adversary. The enemy caused mankind to flee across the galaxy and they hunt us still. If they aren’t stopped, we will be wiped out – and we’re running out of time. MORE / BUY

For years, Vasin Sapphire has been waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike. Now, as other Deathless families come under constant assault from the monsters that roam the Wild, that time has come. In the floating castle of Rochant Sapphire, the child raised to give up his body to Lord Rochant is no ordinary servant. Strange and savage, he will stop at nothing to escape his gilded prison. Far below, another child yearns to see the human world. Raised by a creature of the Wild, he knows their secrets better than any other. As he enters into the struggle between the Deathless houses, he may be the key to protecting their power or destroying it completely. MORE / BUY

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Knight of Stars * Tom Lloyd * 9781473224612 * HB * £16.99 * Gollancz

Lynx and the rest of the Cards are heading south. There’s money in their pockets, beer in their hands and a simple job ahead – sun, sea and not getting shot at much. Throw in the prospect of a bar fight and it’s almost a holiday. But the volatile Mage Islands are a powder-keg, one just waiting for a spark. A bloody-handed exile perhaps, or the agent of a foreign power preparing for war. Maybe even a bunch of trigger-happy drunks who’ve upset the balance of magic across the Riven Kingdom.
Or all three together, that’d definitely work… MORE / BUY

During her maiden voyage, the RMS Titanic sank. But 706 people survived, among them Wendy Darling whose lifeboat is washed up on the shore of a mysterious island a place lost in time home to creatures long thought extinct, a forgotten tribe, and a boy who can never grow up. But the notorious pirate Captain James Hook and his crew have also found their way to Neverland, and the island is angry… YOU decide which route to take, which perils to risk, and which of the island’s strange, prehistoric denizens to fight. Play as shipwreck survivor Wendy Darling, automaton avenger Peter Pan, heroic hunter Tiger Lily, or plundering pirate Captain James Hook… Will you manage to escape from Neverland? MORE / BUY

Corrupt people pay fortunes for a sliver of a satyr’s hoof, a gryphon’s claw, a basilisk’s scale, or an angel’s wing. Having become embroiled in the secret world of the Relics, creatures known as the Kin, Angela Gough is on the run in the United States. Forty years ago the town of Longford was the site of a deadly disease. The infection was contained, the town isolated, and the valley in which it sits flooded. The truth – that the outbreak was intentional, and not every resident of Longford died – disappeared beneath the waves. Now the town is revealed again. The infection has risen from beneath silent waters, and this forgotten town becomes the focus of the looming battle between humankind and the Kin. MORE / BUY

Teagan Frost has telekinetic powers – a skill that the government is all too happy to make use of, sending her on secret break-in missions that no ordinary human could carry out. But all she really wants to do is kick back, have a beer, and pretend she’s normal for once. But then a body turns up at the site of her last job – murdered in a way that only someone like Teagan could have pulled off. She’s got 24 hours to clear her name… Full of imagination, wit and random sh*t flying through the air, this insane adventure from an irreverent new voice will blow your tiny mind. MORE / BUY

It is the 147th century. The mighty era of Homo Sapiens is at an end. In the Westerly Provinces of the Old World, the hunt is on for the young queen Arabis, and the beast that holds her captive. In the brutal hominid Investiture, revolution has come. The warlord Cunctus, having seized the Vulgar worlds, invites every Prism to pick a side. In the Firmament, once the kingdom of the Immortal Amaranthine, all ships converge on the foundry of Gliese. The grandest battle in the history of mammalian kind has begun… MORE / BUY

Non-Fiction

Go inside the master’s studio and explore the creative spaces and processes of the legendary artists who brought you Batman: Year One, Akira, Saga, and more! Curated by Joel Meadows, editor of Tripwire Magazine, the book includes chapters on such legends as Milo Manara (The Ape, Click), Mike Kaluta (The Shadow ), Walter Simonson (Thor, Fantastic Four), and more. The first in a series of deluxe books focusing on artists at work in a variety of mediums and industries, Inside the Master’s Studio, Vol. 1 offers a glimpse “behind the veil,” shining new light on the artistic process. MORE / BUY

A Hugo Award-winning author and music journalist explores the weird and wild story of when rock ‘n’ roll met the sci-fi world of the 1970s. In doing so, he presents a whole generation of revered musicians as the sci-fi-obsessed conjurers they really were: from Sun Ra lecturing on the black man in the cosmos, to Pink Floyd jamming live over the broadcast of the Apollo 11 moon landing; from a wave of Star Wars disco chart toppers and synthesiser-wielding post-punks, to Jimi Hendrix distilling the “purplish haze” he discovered in a pulp novel into psychedelic song. Of course, the whole scene was led by David Bowie, who hid in the balcony of a movie theatre to watch 2001: A Space Odyssey, and came out a changed man… MORE / BUY

Children’s and Young Adult

An epic new trilogy from the bestselling author of the Summoner series. CADE CARTER IS LOST. Convicted of a crime he didn’t commit, Cade is facing a year in reform school when he finds himself suddenly transported to another realm. BUT THIS NEW WORLD IS NO ESCAPE. Populated by bloodthirsty prehistoric creatures and fierce warriors, Cade’s surroundings are full of danger. Along with his fellow students, Cade is forced to become a contender in a deadly game of the highest stakes, controlled by invisible overlords. Who are these brutal rulers, and why did they choose Cade? Before he can find answers, Cade must get ready to fight… MORE / BUY

Graphic Novels

One of four books expanding Neil Gaiman’s acclaimed Sandman Universe. There is a place where gods are born and stories are spun. Twenty-three years after he was anointed as its master, the lord of dreams has inexplicably abandoned his domain. Lord Daniel’s absence triggers a series of crimes and calamities that consume the lives of those already tangled in his fate. Until he is found, his realm’s residents must protect its broken borders alone. Meanwhile, in Daniel s gallery, something new is growing… Collects The Dreaming #1-6 and Sandman Universe Special #1. MORE / BUY

One of four books expanding Neil Gaiman s acclaimed Sandman Universe. Lucifer finds himself imprisoned and crippled by mysterious forces who seek to torment him for their own terrible ends. The blind, destitute old man, who lives in a small boarding house in a quiet little town, where nothing is quite what it seems and no one can leave. He has no recollection of setting out to find his offspring. He also does not remember that if he does not find him it could be the end of all things. Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, a cop who may have brain cancer is tasked with a mission. Find and Kill Lucifer. Collects Lucifer #1-6 and Sandman Universe Special #1. MORE / BUY

The return of fan-favourite skysurfing delinquent in an original story by comic superstars! The Oz Radback, 2140 AD. Legendary Mega-city skysurfer Marlon Shakespeare has retired to Oz, where he has been living a trouble-free life. But when he goes in pursuit of the mutants that kidnapped his friend Wally during a radstorm, the ageing skysurfer gets far more trouble than he bargained for! Collects the latest adventure of Mega-City One’s greatest skysurfer as well as several Judge Dredd stories also featuring the vibrant psychedelic art of Brendan McCarthy. MORE / BUY

HIT-GIRL: THE GOLDEN RAGE OF HOLLYWOOD. The adolescent assassin tears Tinsel Town a new one when she realises her life’s being dramatized for the silver screen. Hit-Girl storms sets, wages war on fat-cat movie bosses, and lures old enemies out of hiding in this kamikaze Californian bloodbath. Collects Hit-Girl 13-16. MORE / BUY

Tor.com’s Best Comics of 2018. THE WICKED + THE DIVINE writer KIERON GILLEN teams up with artist supernova STEPHANIE HANS (WicDiv, Journey Into Mystery) for her first ongoing comic. DIE is a pitch-black fantasy where a group of forty-something adults have to deal with the returning, unearthly horror they only just survived as teenage role-players. If Kieron’s in a rush, he describes it as “Goth Jumanji”, but that’s only the tip of this obsidian iceberg. Collects issues #1-5 of DIE MORE / BUY